Will Dota 2’s Crownfall update have a gameplay balance patch?

Dota 2 players have been waiting months for a new major patch since Version 7.35 dropped in December, and Crownfall was supposed to deliver. Valve has other plans, though, and now we don’t know when the next big balance update is coming.

With Crownfall launching Act One: The Markets of Midgate on April 18, Dota 2 has gone over 126 days without a main client patch. Plenty of players are tired of Version 7.35 and are ready for the game to hit its next numbered update—though this is nowhere close to Dota 2’s record-breaking content drought from early 2023. With Crownfall set to be the bulk of Dota 2 content for the next several months, most players question if a balance update will be included alongside one of the parts.

Dota 2 Crownfall: Will it have a gameplay update? 

With the Crownfall update, Valve is focusing on the gameplay element of Dota 2 and providing players with new experiences. This means the next major gameplay update likely won’t be tied to the Crownfall name—though it should still be released at some point soon. 

Crownfall is unlike the New Horizons update, which released alongside Version 7.33 in April 2023. New Horizons was the start of Valve’s new approach to developing Dota 2 content and was centered around expanding the game with significant changes to the map, items, and other gameplay reworks. In Valve’s own words, Crownfall is a “new way of telling stories, offering rewards, and making it more fun to win every game of Dota.” There are still new gameplay additions in Crownfall, but they mostly deal with lore and the interactive, board game-style map. 

The key thing to note about Crownfall is that it isn’t just one update. Valve confirmed this four-act narrative series will be released over multiple months as the current slate of content expands with more lore, characters, rewards, and surprises. Within that span, we will likely get a major gameplay balance update —even if it is not tied to Crownfall specifically.

There is currently no timeframe for the next patch, but since version 7.33 dropped in April 2023, we have not gone more than five months without hitting a new numbered update. This is the longest drought we have had in the last year, though there’s still hope we could see 7.36 in the next few weeks.

In the wise words of Quinn: “Stop whining they’ll patch the game when they patch it valve doesn’t owe you jack. Can’t munch on the hand that feeds you like a candy bar and also expect them to talk to you. Zip it ty.”